billsportsmaps.com

May 16, 2021

Norway: 2021 Eliteserien – Location-maps, with 2 charts: Seasons-in-1st-division (current clubs) & All-time Norwegian titles list./+Bodø/Glimt: the northern-most team on the planet to have won a top-flight national football title.

Filed under: Norway — admin @ 12:33 pm

norway_2021-eliteserien_map_w_oslofjord-map_seasons-in-1st-div_all-time-titles-list_post_e_.gif
Norway: 2021 Eliteserien – Location-maps, with 2 charts: Seasons-in-1st-division (current clubs) & All-time Norwegian titles list




By Bill Turianski on the 16th of May 2021; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Norway – Summary (table, fixtures, results, stats, etc) (soccerway.com).
-Eliteserien (en.wikipedia.org).

-Norwegian Eliteserien 2021 club-by-club preview, from reddit.com/soccer by ZxentixZ (from 9 May 2021, at us.reddit.com/r/soccer).

The map shows the 16 teams in the 2021 Eliteserien, the top-flight football league of Norway, which plays from May to November. On the map-page there is also an inset-map of the Greater Oslo/Oslofjord region, which shows the 8 Eliteserien teams from that area. There is also a bit of demographic info on Norway, found at the upper-left of the map page, and below that is a list showing all 7 metro-areas in Norway that have a population above 100,000.

On the map, for each the 16 Eliteserien clubs of 2021, there are shown the following:
Location, club crest, full club name and year of origin, stadium (and its capacity), 2019 average attendance [which was the most recent season before the COVID-19 pandemic affected attendance figures], and Norwegian titles.

At the upper-right of the map-page there is a brief history of Norwegian top-flight football [fotball].

And there are 2 charts. One chart shows Seasons-in-Top-flight for the current clubs (2021 is the 77th season of top-flight football in Norway). And another chart shows the All-time Norwegian titles list (1938-’39; 1947-2020).

A couple other notes…The inset-map of Greater Oslo/Oslofjord region shows the populated areas there in a pale-red colour. The main map shows all the cities in the Scandinavian and Baltic Sea regions which have metro-area populations above 400,000. Those 15 cities are…St Petersburg (Russia), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Minsk (Belarus), Oslo (Norway), Helsinki (Finland), Gothenburg (Sweden), Gdansk (Poland), Kiel (Germany), Riga (Latvia), Malmo (Sweden), Kaliningrad (Russia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Bergen (Norway), Tallinn (Estonia).

And the Arctic Circle is shown (see below for the reason for that).

Last season an unlikely champion was crowned in Norway: Bodø/Glimt
Bodø/Glimt are located just north of the Arctic Circle, in the small town of Bodø, Nordland, population, 52,000. (The town of Bodø is further north than Fairbanks, Alaska.) At the foot of this post, in the illustration for Bodø/Glimt, there is a synopsis of their history, which I will expand on a bit more below…

Before 1963, clubs from the north of Norway were not allowed to compete in the Norwegian Cup. That is, clubs from the two northern-most Norwegian counties of Nordland, and Troms og Finnmark, were barred by the Norwegian football authorities (the NFF, or Norges Fotballforbund. They also were barred from the Norwegian top flight.

It took until 1972 for the NFF to finally allow northern teams the right to compete for promotion to the top division. The first club from Northern Norway to gain promotion to the top flight was FK Mjølner, of Narvik, in 1972 (but they were relegated the following season). (I put Narvik on the map in case you were wondering where it is located.)

Why this long standing policy of exclusion? Well, by the 1970s, there were teams up north that were good enough – it was simply that the southern-biased NFF smugly felt otherwise. In 1975, Bodø/Glimt showed how good teams from the north were by becoming the first club from Northern Norway to win the Norwegian Football Cup.

But meanwhile, the NFF had stacked the deck against northern clubs trying to win promotion from the second tier. They did this right after the aforementioned FK Mjølner got promoted in 1972. So staring in 1973, the NFF put all the northern teams in a separate division – one of three divisions within the second tier – then made it much more difficult for the winner of that northern-subdivision. Because the other two subdivisions in the 2nd tier were comprised entirely of southern Norwegian teams, and the winners in both those subdivisions got instant promotion to the top flight. But the northern subdivision winner had to also win an extra playoff round (versus both the 2nd-place-finishers from the two southern subdivision) to gain promotion. This stilted system lasted until 1978.

This exclusionary state of affairs kept Bodø/Glimt out of the top flight for 3 years, until 1976, when they beat Odd BK 4-0 and drew 1-1 with FK Lyn. That made Bodø/Glimt the second club from Northern Norway to play in the top flight. (The only other club from Northern Norway to have gained promotion to the top flight is Tromsø IL.) In 1977, in Bodø/Glimt’s first season in the top tier, they finished in 2nd place, 8 points behind the champions, Lillestrøm.



Since then, Bodø/Glimt have won one more Norwegian Cup (in 1993), and have had a 13-year spell stuck back in the 2nd tier and 3rd tier (from 1980 to ’92), as well as a 13-year spell back in the top tier (from 1993 to 2005, including a 2nd-place-finish in 2003). Then, in the early 2000s they basically turned into a yo-yo club (3 relegations and 3 promotions since 2005). That all changed in 2019, when Bodø/Glimt turned into a competitor for the title once more, finishing in 2nd place. Then in 2020, Bodø/Glimt ran away with the title.

By winning the Eliteserien by 19-points last November, Bodø/Glimt became the northern-most team on the planet to have won a top-flight national football title. And so three years after their most recent promotion, Bodø/Glimt transformed themselves from a yo-yo club that inevitably sold off their best players in order to make ends meet, into the national champions.

In 2020, Bodø/Glimt scored an astounding 3.4 goals per game, and had a +71 goal difference. And Bodø/Glimt lost only twice all season – losing once to then-reigning champions Molde, and losing in the Europa League qualifiers to Italian giants AC Milan. Bodø/Glimt’s unusual title run has led many to call them the Leicester City of Scandinavia.

-Norway Has a Must-See Team. Barely Anyone Can Watch It. Bodo/Glimt is on the cusp of its first championship, a soccer success story built on style and innovation… (by Rory Smith on 8 Nov 2020 at nytimes.com/sport).

-Bodo/Glimt make history with Norwegian Eliteserien title win (from 22 Nov 2020, at bbc.com/football).

    Bodø/Glimt – 2020 Norwegian champions

bodo-glimt_bodo-glimt-2020-eliteserien_norway-champions_aspmyra-stadion_kjetil-knutsen_bjorn-mannsverk_k-junker_p-zinckernagel_j-p-hague_u-saltnes_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aspmyra Stadion, by Stig-André Lippert at twitter.com/[@paabortebane]. Aerial shot of Bodø harbor and airstrip, photo from nordlandssykehuset.no. Aerial shot of Bodø, by Getty Images via forbes.com. Bodø air station with fighter plane aloft, photo from wikimapia.org/[Bodø airbase]. Bjørn Mannsverk beside fighter plane, photo by an.no via origo.hu/futball. Bodø/Glimt mental coach Bjørn Mannsverk, in a session with team-coach Håvard Sakariassen and captain Ulrik Saltnes, photo by Markus André Jensen via bodonu.no. Kjetil Knutsen, photo by Marius Simensen/Bildbyrån Norway via . Kjetil Knutsen with Bodø players, photo from time24.news. Kasper Junker, screenshot from video uploaded by Furkan Buğra Yolcu at youtube.com. Phillip Zinckernagel, screenshot from video uploaded by CSN Football Videos at youtube.com. Jens Peter Hauge, photo by @imagoimages via rossoneriblog.com. Ulrik Saltnes, photo by Mats Torbergsen (NTB scanpix) via nettavisen.no/sport. Bodø players celebrate after a goal, photo from glimt.no/om-klubben.




___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of Scandinavia, by NordNordWest at File:Scandinavia location map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Globe-map of Norway, by Rob984 at File:Europe-Norway (orthographic projection).svg (en.wikipedia.org).
-Inset map of Oslofjord region – which I drew, tracing the following maps…blank map of Oslofjord region, by Demis.nl via File:La2-demis-oslofjorden.png (commons.wikimedia.org); Demis Map Server; Map of Oslofjord, by Finnrind at File:Oslofjord.svg; + Open Street Map [Oslofjord].
-Counties map of Norway, by Furfur at File:Nye fylker – regjeringen.no.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Rankings: Norway club co-efficient: kassiesa.net; Norway national team: fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking.
-Norwegian football history: Det norske seriesystemet i fotball for menn (no.wikipedia.org).

July 6, 2016

Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland): Highest-drawing football clubs (UEFA domestic leagues), for 2015 or 2015-16 seasons: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs)./+Illustrations for the 12 highest-drawing clubs in the Nordic countries – all clubs which drew above 10 K per game (Hammarby IF, AIK Fotboll, Rosenborg BK, Malmö FF, FC København, Djurgården IF, IFK Göteborg, Brøndby IF, IFK Norrköping, Viking FK, SK Brann, Vålerenga IF).

Filed under: Denmark,Nordic: SWE/NOR/DEN/FIN,Norway,Sweden — admin @ 5:33 pm

nordic-countries_map_sweden_denmark_norway_finland_top-drawing-clubs_2015_2015-16_post_d_.gif
Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland): Highest-drawing football clubs, for 2015-16 or 2015 seasons: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs)



By Bill Turianski on 6 July 2016; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Nordic nations (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands) [aka greater Scandinavia]…Nordic countries (en.wikipedia.org).
-Best attendances in Nordic leagues in 2015…Den nordiska publikligan (ecst.se/fotboll).

-Sweden’s top flight…2016 Allsvenskan
; ALLSVENSKAN [2016] (soccerway.com).

-Denmark’s top flight…2015–16 Danish Superliga
; SUPERLIGA [2016-17] (soccerway.com).

-Norway’s top flight…2016 Tippeligaen
; ELITESERIEN [2016 Tippeligaen] (soccerway.com).

-Finland’s top flight…2016 Veikkausliiga
; VEIKKAUSLIIGA [2016] (soccerway.com).

Below: Alfheim Stadion, home of Tromsø IL (of Tromsø, Norway).
Norway’s Tromsø IL are the northern-most first division football club in the world.
alfheim-stadion_tromso-il_the-northern-most-1st-div-football-club-in-the-world_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Map of Scandinavia/Finland by NormanEinstein at File:Norwegian Sea blank map.png (commons.wikimedia.org).Aerial shot of Tromsø with Alfheim Stadion, photo by groundhopping.se/[Tromsø]. Aerial shot of Tromsø at night, photo by Action Images via dailymail.co.uk. Shot of Alfheim Stadion with pile of snow in foreground, photo by AFP/Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk.

    Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland):
    Highest-drawing football clubs in 2016: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs).

On the map page…
1). On the top-left-hand side are thumbnail descriptions of the 4 Nordic leagues whose teams are featured on the map. Noted are each of those 4 leagues’ current [2016] UEFA co-efficients (ie, league-ratings versus the rest of Europeans leagues within UEFA). One thing that a newcomer to Nordic football would need to know is the fact that 3 of the 4 primary Nordic leagues (Sweden, Norway, Finland) play a summer schedule (~April to November), while one league – Denmark’s Superliga – plays the standard schedule (ie, like most of the rest of Europe/ ~August to May).
1a). Right below that are 4 lists, showing the all-time title lists for each of the 4 countries, with the crests shown of the most-titled clubs from each of the 4 countries.
{Sources for title lists…
Sweden, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Swedish_football_champions#Total_titles_won_by_club;
Denmark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Danish_football_champions#Total_titles_won;
Norway, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Norwegian_football_league_champions#By_club ;
Finland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Finnish_football_champions#Performance_by_club.}
2). In the middle of the map-page is a long chart which shows the 65 clubs whose teams are on the map, with the following details…
2a). League the team is in, the team’s 2015-or-2015/16-league-finish, and the team’s divisional-movement from 2014-to-2016 (if any).
2b). Attendance in 2015-or-2015/16 [home league average attendance], ranked.
2c). Club name, with city/region description if not noted in club nomenclature.
3). The map, which shows Scandinavia-(Norway/Sweden/Denmark)-plus-Finland. [As with respect to the other Nordic countries...sorry, but no Icelandic or Faroe Islands teams drew above 2-K-per-game last year.]

Stadium shares
There are 3 instances of stadium-shares…in Gothenburg at Gamla Ullevi (a 3-way-share between: GAIS, IFK Göteborg, and Örgryte IS), in Stockholm at Tele2 Arena (a 2-way-share between: Hammarby IF and Djurgården IF), and in Helsinki at Sonera Stadion (a 2-way-share between: HIFK and HJK).

Notes on map
I have tried to make all the club crests on the map approximately the same size. From the original blank map I added lakes in Sweden and Finland, plus I also added flanking-edge areas not in the original blank map (in the Baltic States/Eastern Europe and in NE Netherlands). I did this because I had to tilt the original map to orient it in a more North-South axis. That was necessary because the original map’s focal point was the Norwegian Sea, not the Scandinavian Peninsula, and so Scandinavia-and-Finland looked distorted – until I tilted the whole map about ~20 degrees. I added one extra detail…the mighty Øresund Bridge. The Øresund Bridge is actually a 12 kilometre/8.5 mile-long bridge-and-tunnel. Completed in July 2000, it connects Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden. The Øresund Bridge is a physical manifestation of how interconnected the Nordic countries are.

Average attendance by league (2015 or 2015-16)…
Sweden, Allsvenskan: 9,961 per game.
Denmark, Superliga: 7,184 per game.
Norway, Tippeligaen: 6,711 per game.
Finland, Veikkausliiga: 2,574 per game.

    The 12 highest-drawing clubs in the Nordic countries in 2015 or 2015-16 – all clubs which drew above 10 K per game (2015 or 2015-16 season) -
    (Hammarby IF, AIK Fotboll, Rosenborg BK, Malmö FF, FC København, Djurgården IF, IFK Göteborg, Brøndby IF, IFK Norrköping, Viking FK, SK Brann, Vålerenga IF)

Highest-drawing Nordic team – Hammarby IF (Stockholm, Sweden)…
After a five-season spell in the second tier, Hammarby IF won promotion back to the Swedish top flight (the Allsvenskan), on the last day of the 2014 season {see photos below}. The next year (2015), Hammarby set the all-time record for average attendance in Sweden (and in all the Nordic countries), pulling in an impressive 25,507 per game (they finished in 11th place in 2015). Now, granted, Hammarby are playing in a sparkling new all-mod-cons sports palace (the Tele2 Arena), and that fact will have added to their crowd sizes. But their gate figures are nevertheless very impressive for Scandinavia.

Hammarby IF might seem to be an unlikely team to be the highest-ever-drawing Nordic football club, because they have only won only one Swedish title (in 2001/ all-time Swedish medal table, here). But the club has vast support among the working class of southern Stockholm and beyond. There are no plastic Hammarby fans looking for the reflected glory of a big, title-winning team. They simply support Hammarby because the club is part of them – even if the history of Hammarby IF is replete with blown chances, near-title-win-choke-jobs, and a seemingly eternal struggle to simply remain in (or return to) the top flight. The other sizable Stockholm-based clubs – AIK and Djurgården – might be able to rack up the titles, but neither can match Hammarby when it comes to filling a stadium up with supporters.

-Here is a nice post from Reddit/soccer on Hammarby…Small teams in the spotlight #8: Hammarby IF (reddit.com/r/soccer post uploaded by slicslack on 2 June 2015).
-Here is the article that was recommended in the above link, at the ESPN FC site…The story of Hammarby’s long-awaited return to Sweden’s Allsvenskan (espnfc.com/blog, article by Michael Yokhin on 7 April 2015).

hammarby-if_highest-drawing-swedish-team_nya-soderstadion_tele2-arena_stockholm_k_.gif
Photo credits above -
2015 Hammarby home jersey, photo by intersport.se/hammarby-fotboll-2015. View of central Stockholm, photo by Fotolia at travelguide.lufthansa.com/stockholm. Hammarby supporters during supportermarchen, the tradional walk from central Södermalm to the team’s home stadium, [which was at that point in time] Söderstadion , before the season’s first home game [photo from April 2013], photo by Arild Vågen at File:Supportermarschen 2013 09.jpg. Last game at Söderstadion/pitch invasion (June 2013), photo unattributed at aftonbladet.se. Aerial view of Tele2 Arena, with Ericsson Globe (aka Globen) adjacent, photo by [the main building contractors] Peab, at peab.se/tele2-arena. Street-view of Tele2 Arena from tpeinfill.com. Interior shot of Tele2 Arena, photo by groundhopping.se/Hammarby. Hammarby supporters’ pitch invasion upon winning promotion to the Allsvenskan [Oct. 2014], photo unattributed at i.ytimg.com/vi/bLFrjg-mfj0/maxresdefault.jpg via reddit.com/r/soccer post from 2 June 2015, here. Hammarby supporters’ pitch invasion upon winning promotion/photo 2, photo unattributed at i.imgur.com/h91zXjM.jpg via reddit.com/r/soccer post from 2 Nov. 2014, reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2l2lft/hammarby_just_secured_promotion_to_allsvenskan. Hammarby fans in Tele2 Arena with flags and with scarves held up and with giant banner proclaiming ‘This Is Soderstadion’, photo by Anders Skoog via LG Skoog at runnersworld.se/blogs/lgskoog/mitt-87-e-rw-blogginlagg.htm.

2nd-highest-drawing Nordic team – AIK Fotboll (Solna, Greater Stockholm, Sweden)…
aik-fotboll_friends-arena_stockholm_d_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 AIK home jersey, photo by uksoccershop.com/AIK-Stockholm-Adidas-Home-Football-Shirt. Aerial view of Friends Arena [Sept. 2014], photo by Arild Vågen at File:Arenastaden September 2014.jpg. Night-time/exterior shot of Friends Arena unattributed at tripadvisor.se. Interior shot of Friends Arena with AIK supporters’ tifo, photo by bildbyran.se, via haik.se/fotboll/statistik/arena. AIK Ultras [2011], photo from jojjesplejs.com via europeanultras.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20&start=70.

3rd-highest-drawing Nordic team – Rosenborg BK (Trondheim, Norway)…
rosenborg-bk_highest-drawing-norwegian-team_lerkendal-stadion_trondheim_h_.gif
Photo credits above -
Rosenborg 2016 home jersey, photo by
aliexpress.com/Rosenborg-BK-Jersey. Aerial view of Trondheim, photo by Åge Hojem/Trondheim Havn at File:Overview of Trondheim 2008 03.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Tronheim in winter at twilight, photo by pitchmedia.com/photography/norway. Aerial view of Lerkendal Stadion, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Rosenborg ultras with banners etc [photo from 2011 Rosenborg v Stabaek], photo unattributed at z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi. Alexander Søderlund being congratulated by teammates after scoring, image (screenshot) from youtube.com video uploaded by AllGoalsNorway at Rosenborg BK All Goals Tippeligaen 2015. Rosenborg players celebrating their 2015 title, photo unattributed at realfootytalk.com/2015/11/02/norwegian-tippeligaen-2015-round-29-review. Alexander Søderlund on a breakaway, photo by Rosenborg BK via vavel.com.

4th-highest-drawing Nordic team – Malmö FF (Malmö, Scania, Sweden…)
malmo-ff_swedbank-stadion_malmo-scania_b_.gif -
2016 home jersey, photo by Malmö FF at mffshopen.jetshop.se/match/matchklader/matchtroja-hemma-2016-barn. Aerial view of Malmö with Øresund Bridge in background, photo by Johan Wessman, News Oresund at File:Aerial view of Malmö towards south taken from Malmö Live 20131023.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). View of old city-center in , photo unattributed at besttraveltips.net. Aerial shot of Swedbank Stadin, photo unattributed at pinterest.com at s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com. MFF fans at Swedbank Stadion [2009], photo by mff-familjen.se via z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/ar/t12159.htm.

5th-highest-drawing Nordic team – FC København [aka FC Copenhagen) (Copenhagen, Denmark)...
fc-kobenhavn_highest-drawing-danish-team_telia-parken_copenhagen_2016-champions_e_.gif
Photo and image credits above - FC Copenhagen 2016 home jersey, photo by uksoccershop.com/2016-FC-Copenhagen-Adidas-Home-Football-Shirt. Aerial view of Copenhagen, image by Getty Images at gettyimages.com/detail/video/view-of-copenhagen-city-copenhagen-denmark-stock-video-footage. View of Copenhagen, photo unattributed at ems2016.org/welcome-to-copenhagen. Aerial view of Parken Stadium, photo unattributed at footballtripper.com/telia-parken-copenhagen-stadium-aerial. FC København fans' giant banner, photo from z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/index.php?showtopic=23016&st=44. Federico Santander, photo by Jan Christensen at gettyimages.com. Thomas Delaney, photo by Jan Christenson at gettyimages.com. Nicolai Jørgensen, photo by Jens Dresling at ekstrabladet.dk.
Kasper Kusk, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimages.co.uk. Mathias Jørgensen, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimags.co.uk. Youssef Toutouh, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimges.co.uk. Photo of players carrying manager Ståle Solbakken, photo by Lars Ronberg at gettyimages.com.
...

6th-highest drawing Nordic team - Djurgården (Stockholm, Sweden)...
djurgarden-if_tele2-arena_stockholm_d_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 Djurgården IF home jersey, photo by difshop.se. View of central Stockholm in winter, photo unattributed at pinterest.com at s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com. Aerial shot of Tel2 Arena lit up with Djurgården colours, photo unattributed at fmsweden.se/topic/27379-fm15-sr-djurgardens-if-du-ar-allt-jag-har. Djurgården fans with flags, photo by unattributed at jarnkaminerna.se. Djurgården fans with smoke bombs and tifo [April 2015], photo by Helena Avermark at jarnkaminerna.se/bilder/2015-04-13-hammarby-if-djurgardens-if.

7th-highest-drawing Nordic team – IFK Göteborg (Gothenburg, Sweden)…
ifk-goteborg_gothenburg_gamla-ullevi_i_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 IFK Göteborg home jersey, photo by IFK Göteborg at blavittshopen.web02.e37.se. Aerial view of Gothenburg, photo by Alamy via telegraph.co.uk/Swedish-city-embarks-on-6-hour-workday-experiment. View of central Gothenburg at night in winter, photo by Dick Gillberg at goteborgdaily.se/christmas-city-gothenburg-kicks-off. Aerial shot of Gamla Ullevi stadium, photo by powerphoto.nu/flygbilder-gamla-ullevi. Badges on a wall of the Gamal Ullevi stadium, showing the 3 clubs that call the stadium home: GAIS, IFK Göteborg, Örgryte IS, photo by groundhopping.se/IFKGoteborg. IFK Göteborg fans’ giant tifo banner, photo by IFK Göteborg at ifkgoteborg.se/For-supportrar/Tifofonden. Shot of IFK Göteborg fans with a myriad of flags and banners, photo by IFK Göteborg at ifkgoteborg.se/In-English/Welcome.

8th-highest-drawing Nordic team – Brøndby IF (Brondby, Greater Copenhagen, Denmark)…
From 27 Sept. 2015, VIDEO: Brondby supporters unveil gladiator-themed tifo at New Firm Derby (thescore.com)
brondby-if_brondby-stadium_gladiator-tifo_c_.gif
Photo credits above -
2015-16 Brøndby home jersey, photo unattributed at 3.bp.blogspot.com. Aerial shot of Brøndby Stadium, image from Bet25/TDC: Nye services med WiFi på Brøndby Stadion | brondby.com (youtube,com video uploaded by Brøndby IF). Brøndby fans’ tifo at Brøndby Stadium [Sept. 2015], photo unattributed from z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/ar/t33260.htm. [September 2015] 2 photos of…Brøndby fans’ giant banners depicting: Gladiator-in-coliseum-brandishing-severed-lion’s-head [the lion being their rivals' FC København's symbol], photo unattributed at dr.dk/sporten; 2nd photo, by Lars Ronbog/ Frontzone Sport/ Getty Images via thescore.com.

9th-best-drawing Nordic team – IFK Norrköping (Norrköping, Sweden)…
IFK Norrköping: 2015 Allsvenskan champions.
From UEFA.com/news, from 31 Oct. 2015, by Sujay Dutt, Norrköping defy the odds to lift Swedish title.
ifk-norrkoping_2015-allsvenskan-champions_ostgotaporten_emir-kujovic_e_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 IFK Norrköping home jersey, photo by IFK Norrköping at ifkshop.se/webshop. Aerial view of central Norrköping, photo by Göran Billeson at lansstyrelsen.se. Aerial shot of Östgötaporten, photo by M and F Foto at mfproject.com/norrkopingsidrottspark/gallery. Norrköping supporters with flags and scarves, image from video at fotbolldirekt.se/2015/09/06/video-peking-ultras-om-succeinsamling-for-flyktingar-samlat-in-55-00. 2015 top Allsvenskan scorer, IFK Norrköping FW Emir Kujović…1st photo by Nils Petter Nilsson/Ombrello/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com; 2nd photo (celebrating with teammmates), photo unattributed at media2.sillyseason.se. Shot of Norrköping coach Jan Andersson celebrating with trophy, photo by Getty Images via uefa.com. Shot of Norrköping players celebrating with trophy, photo by Janerik Henriksson/TT at dn.se/sport/fotboll/norrkoping-ar-allsvenska-mastare-2015.

10th-best-drawing Nordic team – Viking FK (Stavanger, Norway)…
viking-fk_viking-stadion_stavanger_preikestolen_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
2016 Viking FK home jersey, illustration by
futhead.com. Panoramic view of Stavanger, photo unattributed at kayak.com/Stavanger-Hotels. Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), which is 16 miles from Stavanger, photo by Terje Rakke/Nordic Life/Regionstavanger.com at visitnorway.com/stavanger-region. Aerial view of Viking Stadion by Viking FK, here. Viking fans with flags waving, photo by Lars Idar Waage at dagsavisen.no/stavanger.

11th-best-drawing Nordic team – SK Brann (Bergen, Norway)…
sk-brann_brann-stadion_bergen_d_.gif
Photo credits above -

2016 SK Brann home jersey, photo by SK Brann at shop.brann.no/produkter/drakter/2016-hjemmedrakt-lang-arm. Panoramic view of Bergen, photo unattributed at azamaraclubcruises.com/files/bergen-norway.jpg. View of Bergen city centre from a nearby hill, photo by Aqwis at File:SkansenSeptember2007 2.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Hanseatic commercial houses in Bryggen [old Bergen], photo unattributed at nordicvisitor.com/images/norway/bryggen-bergen-norway.jpg. Aerial view of Brann Stadion, photo by valrag at File:Brann stadium.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). SK Brann supporters group Bergens Blade Gutter’s pyro/tifo from 14 April 2014, photo from their Twitter.com page at tw.google4cn.com/BGG_08/media.

12th-best-drawing Nordic team – Vålerenga IF (Oslo, Norway)…
valernga_ullevaal-stadion_oslo_b_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 Vålerenga home jersey, photo unattributed at a soccer-jersey-site-that-never-credits-sources. Aerial view of Oslo in summer, photo unattributed at telegraph.co.uk/jpg [from this article, at Aerial view of Oslo in the evening, photo unattributed at visitnorway.com/Summer-holidays-in-Norway. Aerial view of Ullevaal Stadion, photo by John Christian Fjellestad at panoramio.com, and at File:Ullevål Stadium from air.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Vålerenga fans with scarves held up, photo unattributed at tipsfotball.com/.jpg.

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Big Thanks to ecst.se/fotboll, for the list of all Nordic teams' attendances (2015 or 2014-15), at a Den nordiska publikligan [The Nordic Attendances] (ecst.se/fotboll). (This is where I got the idea for this map-and-post.)
Thanks to Soccerway for Denmark attendance figures.
Thanks to NormanEinstein at File:Norwegian Sea blank map.png (commons.wikimedia.org).
Thanks to the contributors at the following Wikipedia pages…
-Sweden’s top flight…2016 Allsvenskan / 2nd level: 2016 Superettan.
-Denmark’s top flight…2015–16 Danish Superliga / 2nd level: 2015-16 1. division (Denmark).
-Norway’s top flight…2016 Tippeligaen / 2nd level: 2016 1. divisjon.
-Finland’s top flight…2016 Veikkausliiga.
Largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries.
List of [3 largest] metropolitan areas in Sweden [Stockholm, Malmo, Gothenburg].
Regions of Norway.
Lands of Sweden.
Provinces of Finland.
Subdivisions of the Nordic countries.

Thanks to distancefromto.net.

Thanks to the supporter groups sites (plus one official-club-site) where I found cool tifo/supporter-made-atmosphere photos within the stadiums..
AIK Fotboll supporter-site: jojjesplejs.com.
Malmö FF supporter-site: mff-familjen.se.
Djurgården supporter-site: jarnkaminerna.se.
IFK Göteborg official site: ifkgoteborg.se/In-English/Welcome.
SK Brann supporters’ group Bergens Blade Gutter’s Twitter.com page at tw.google4cn.com/BGG_08/media.

Thanks to Anders Skoog via his brother LG, at LG Skoog’s blog at Runnersworld.se – for the nice photo of Hammarby Ultras/Hammarby IF supporters at the Tele2 Arena (aka Nya Soderstorm), here.

And a big Thank You to all who contributed at the far-ranging z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi messageboard/forum site, at z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/[Scandinavia], for the awesome photos.

July 5, 2010

Norway: 2010 Norwegian Premier League (aka Tippeligaen), the 16 clubs, with 2009 attendance figures, and all-time list of Norwegian football league champions.

Filed under: Norway — admin @ 4:37 am

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Norway 2010 first division location-map with titles & crowds sizes listed




The official name of the Norwegian Premier League is Tippeligaen, for sponsorship reasons. The 66th season of top flight football in Norway began the weekend of 14th March 2010. After 14 rounds, the season went on hiatus in early June (for the 2010 World Cup), and the league was re-started the weekend of 3-4 July. So at the exact half-way point in the season, Norwegian giants Rosenborg (of Trondheim in north-central Norway) sit at the top of the table, 3 points above Tromso (a club that is located north of the Arctic Circle) and 5 points above Valerenga (of Oslo).

On the main map and chart page there are 2 lists…at the lower left, I have listed all the clubs in Norway that drew over 1,000 per game last season…this ended up being all 16 clubs in the 2009 Norwegian Premier League and 9 clubs in the 2009 second tier, which is the Norwegian First Division.
And at the top left, there is the all-time list of Norwegian league champions. An unusual feature of football in Norway is that the Norwegian champion is, officially, the national cup-winner, not the national-league winner, the way it is most everywhere else. [It might be that way officially, but the winner of the Norwegian Cup does not get a chance to play in the UEFA Champions League, like the Norwegian league winner does, so who's kidding who...]. [The Norwegian Football Cup is not being covered here.]

The Norwegian Premier League (aka Tippeligaen) is currently the 22nd-highest-ranked by UEFA for European competitions {see this, from Bert Kassiesa’s site}. [Update: in 2015 Norway had dropped 4 places to #26 rank in Europe, see this.]

Nprway’s 1st division average attendance was the 15th highest in Europe (even higher than the Portuguese Liga), and was the 22nd-highest drawing association football league in the entire world, but it has probably dropped a couple notches, because that list was for around a year or so ago, and the Norwegian Premier League has seen a dip in cumulative average attendance from 10,485 per game in 2007, to 8,956 per game in 2009. [source: The Best Eleven.com...'World Soccer Average Attendance List'].

In 1937-38, the Norgesserien , or League of Norway, began play. Two seasons later, the league was forced to shut down for what turned out to be 8 seasons, due to the German invasion and onset of World War II and then its aftermath.

One season after resuming play, the league was renamed the Hovedserien , or Main League, from 1948 to 1962. Then the Norwegian top flight used the name 1.divisjon from 1963 to 1990. The current name of Tippeligaen was instituted in 1991. [The word Tippe refers to the league's sponsor, Norsk Tipping, which is the national lottery of Norway.]

Below, the Lerkendal Stadion, home of Rosenborg BK, of Trondheim, Norway…

The most successful club in Norway are current reigning league champions Rosenborg BK, who have won 21 Norwegian league titles, including 18 of the last 22 titles (and were champions 13 straight seasons from 1992 to 2004). One could call them the Bayern Munich of Norway, seeing as how Rosenborg, like Germany’s Bayern Munich, has the lion’s share of league titles in their country, but both clubs did not become the dominant club in their nation until recent times. Rosenborg are from the north-central city of Trondheim, which has a population of around 171,000 {2010 estimate}), making it the fourth-largest urban area in Norway. Trondheim is a center of education and of technical and medical research. Rosenborg Ballklub has the nickname of Troillongan, or “the Troll Kids”.

Rosenborg BK have had the best average attendance for 11 of the past 12 seasons, and drew 17,652 per game last season to their ground, the Lerkendal Stadion, which has a capacity of 21,620. This stadium was bought from the city and completely rebuilt circa 2000-02, using funds earned from the club’s then-annual UEFA Champions League appearances. Rosenborg made it to the promised land of the Champions League Group Stage 11 times in 12 seasons from 1995 to 2006 [in case you are wondering...yes Rosenborg actually progressed out of the CL Group Stage, twice, in fact, in 1996-97 and in 1999-2000]. Rosenborg has recently seen the return of Nils Arne Eggen, the most successful club manager in Norwegian history. Eggen returns for his 7th stint as manager of Rosenborg, which included the golden age of Rosenborg (circa 1988-2002).

The Lerkendal is the second biggest football stadium in Norway, only smaller than the 25,572-capacity Ullevaal Stadion, which is the national football stadium, in Norway’s largest and capital city, Oslo (city population of around 590,000, and a metropolitan area population of around 1.4 million {2010 estimate}). The Ulevaal Stadion is also home to the only Oslo-based club currently in the Norwegian top flight, Valerenga Fotball. Valerenga were the club that broke the 13-year stranglehold that Rosenborg had on the championship, when they took the crown in 2004. This was Valerenga’s 5th title. Valerenga draw around 10,000 per game. The club has plans to build their own stadiium in Oslo. A notable ex-player is Aston Villa FW John Carew, who began his pro career with Valerenga.
Ullevaal Stadion, home of Valerenga and also home of the Norway national team…
ullevaal-stadiuon_valarenga-fotball_fk-lyn-oslo_c.gif
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SK Brann are the second-best drawing club in Norway. Brann drew 15,931 per game in 2009. Brann come from the western Norway port city of Bergen, which is the second largest city in Norway (with a city population of around 255,00, and a metro-area population of around 382,000 {2010 estimate}), and is Norway’s main port and the center of the country’s maritime industry as well as the hub of Norway’s sizable oil and natural gas industries. Like Valerenga, Brann also have won a recent Norwegian premier League title, in 2007. This was Brann’s 3rd Norwegian league title. Brann Stadion holds a little over 17,000, and these days it’s usually close to being filled. Incidentally, though the structure looks pretty new and up-to-date (as you can see in the photo below), Brann Stadion was opened in 1919.
brann-stadion.gif
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The other club to have won a recent league title are the Greater Oslo-based Stabaek Fotball, who are from the suburban municipality of Fornebu, which borders the western edge of Oslo. Although the club has been around since 1912, Stabaek finally won their first league title in 2008. Stabaek play in an unusual ground…a 15,600 indoor arena (with, ugh, artificial turf) called the Telenor Arena.

Speaking of the dreaded artificial turf, this season in Norway, 7 of the 16 first division clubs play on artificial turf…Aalesunds FK, Honefoss BK, Kongsvinger, Odd Grenland, Stabaek Fotbal, Stromgodset IF, and Tromso IL. Tromso IL are the northernmost first-division football club in the world, and are from Tromso (population, 64,000), which is located within the Arctic Circle. I don’t think grass really grows too well up there, and playing on a bed of moss and lichen is not really practical, so one cannot really fault Tromso for playing on a plastic-turfed pitch.
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One other club in the Norwegian first division that needs mentioning because of their past success and consistent ability to draw crowds, and that’s Viking FK,of Stavanger, which is part of the third largest urban area in Norway (Stavanger/Sandnes metro area population, 297,000 {2010 estimate}). Viking was founded way back in 1889 but did not become a force in Norwegian football until the late 1950s, winning their first league title in 1958. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Viking were the dominant club in the country, winning 6 league titles in 11 years. Their last league title was won in 1991, and in the last decade Viking have not finished higher than 3rd (on three occasions). But Viking continue to draw well, and have been the third-highest drawing club in Norway for three years running. Viking averaged 13,071 per game in 2009, and the last time they threatened for the title, in 2007, they drew just over 17,000.
Viking Stadion…
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One other point about the Norwegian Premier League. All three of the clubs relegated last year are venerable clubs…Fredrikstad FK, FK Bodo/Glimt, and FK Lyn Oslo. Fredrikstad were the original dominant club in the Norwegian top tier, winning 6 of the first 9 league titles. Fredrikstad’s 9 league titles makes them the second-most successful club in Norway, but their last league title was in 1960-61. Fredrikstad FK are from Fredrikstad, which is on the south-east side of the Ostdjord (it’s shown on the Greater Oslo/Oslofjord map segment on the main map page). Fredrikstad averaged 10,289 per game last season, so their relegation will put a dent in the 2010 Norwegian Premier League average attendance. This is especially true because the three just-promoted clubs…FK Haugesund, Honefoss BK, and Kongsvinger IL Topfotball, are all low-drawing minnows who averaged below 3,000 per game in the second tier last season.
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Thanks to World Soccer magazine, for news of the Norwegian football scene, World Soccer.
Thanks to the E-F-S site, for attendance figures, E-F-S attendances.
Thanks to Football Derbies.com, and contributor Tromsoe, for Valeranga v. Lyn info,
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org ’2010 Norwegian Premier League’.
Thanks to Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion site, for posting this map earlier this year, PitchInvasion.net.

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